TORONTO -- A plane leaving London for Prague experienced difficulties during takeoff after too many passengers were seated toward the front of the aircraft.
According to a new report from the The Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB) in the U.K., a different plane was originally planned for the flight from Luton Airport to Prague Airport in January earlier this year. When the plane was switched from a 180-seat Airbus A320 to a 230-seat A321, an email was prepared notifying operational and passenger departments at Luton, but was never sent due to a “technical problem.”
As a result, people were seated on the new, larger plane with the seating configuration of the smaller jet.
“The effect of this was that, at rotation, the aircraft appeared to the crew not to respond as expected to the normal side stick control inputs due to the forward [centre of gravity],” the report reads.
On takeoff, the nose of the plane failed to rise. Crew suspected that they had inputted an “incorrect stabiliser setting” and the pilot engaged the thrust function to increase the pitch of the plane. “The aircraft responded and a climb was commenced with the flight continuing to the planned destination,” the report continued.
At the beginning of the descent into Prague, the crew finally realized that the passenger seating plan may have caused the nose issue. There were no further issues reported during the flight and action was taken to improve the “passage of information” when changes take place.
